Colby Covington says he is treated ‘like crap’ by the UFC following failed negotiations for Kamaru Usman fight

Colby Covington has been passed over for a title shot before, and could very well be passed over again.

Covington, who is the former interim welterweight champion, never got a title shot after he won the belt. Instead, it was Darren Till and Kamaru Usman who received the next two shots.

Then, after beating Robbie Lawler at UFC Newark, he was again promised a title shot should he win, yet it appears that may not happen. Reports this weekended indicated that the negotiations between Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman failed, and the UFC turned their attention to different fights. For “Chaos” he says it wasn’t much of a negotiation as it was a demand from the UFC.

“My side of the story is, I’m ready to fight, I was ready to fight, but the UFC came to be with the basic challenger’s offer,” Colby Covington said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show. “I’m a champion. There was no negotiation. They came and ran at me and said, ‘Here, take this, or leave it and we’ll pass it on to the next person. That’s not fair negotiating and that’s not right. So I’m not going to take the first offer that you offer me.”

Colby Covington hopes he can start actually negotiating with the UFC. But, he makes it clear it is Kamaru Usman, and not him, that is the one that won’t agree to the fight. He says he just needs to be paid.

“We need to meet in the middle,” Covington said. “There’s more that needs to be done. But also, I’m the A-side and you can’t even get the B-side done with Usman. Why are we even rushing this if you can’t get the B-side done? Usman didn’t want to fight anybody. He didn’t want to fight me, he didn’t want to fight my ex-best friend Jorge. He didn’t want to fight Leon Scott [Leon Edwards]. The problem is Usman. The problem has nothing to do with me.”

In the end, Colby Covington wants to fight Kamaru Usman for the title next. Yet, for that to happen he wants to be treated fairly and paid what he is worth.

“I have a world title and they still want to treat me like crap,” Colby Covington said. “They still want to not give me any room to negotiate and work. It’s not fair. The company is rolling in money. Thirty-percent growth last month. We all know the ESPN deal. They’re making so much money. They need to make this right.”

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This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 9/9/2019.